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Sunday Long Run – The Big Momma Run

Success? Yes or No? You decide. My goal was 20 mi @ 8:15 pace. Got the pace down but off by one mile. So the conceptual question is ‘Did I have enough for another mile for the next 8 min and 15 sec?’ Any my answer to that is ‘YES’.

So let’s consider a few more things here:

I practically ran this unfueled… kind of. I hydrated at 6 mi with a light water/gatorade mix approx 6 oz on 4 sips. The next was a Gu at 12 mi with the same amount of hydration. That’s it.

I’ve been nailing every single run this week and then some and in fact, my Monday run, that was supposed to be 5 mi was actually 10 mi… so the total for this week is 63.29 mi!

3 weeks before this run was a string of inconsistent weeks…kind of. The last two weeks have been sort of consistent but it was only last week that I started nailing both mileage and pace. I’m always told that run training is cumulative…and I can say that I’ve done a lot to catch up to the lack thereof.

So to me, if I consider those things, I feel like it was a successful run. In fact, intangibly, I feel like my confidence is built up for a 3:30 marathon in 3 weeks.

My feet feel like they got paddled a billion times…or around 40,000 times. Hobbling around the house with gingerly steps but everything’s good.. this is expected.

Felt some weirdness in my right knee (runner’s knee) at around 17 mi and stepping on a rock caused me to cuss up a storm…who in the world left the rock there!? I didn’t really cuss but I was like “well, that didn’t help…”

Same strides as before…feels bouncy but it works. These strides give me the ability to push when I need to but feel efficient

Cool start at 47F, and around 66F when I returned… the path around the lake was nice and not a lot of bugs.

So exactly why did I stop at 19? Well, I think I just simply had about enough…felt the boredom which is usually triggered by fatigue. I actually had a perceived bonk at 17 but pushed through. Most of the hilly parts became tougher and tougher but playing the “DSAP” game helps a lot…I may actually try to coin a term here, if not already done so, and call it “Micro Pacing”… I’m telling you, with a few tweaks to the rules, this can really help people…I want to blog about it. It’s not rocket science but it’s a way to work with the tools at hand (i.e. your GPS watches)

I’d like to hear what my few readers think…did I nail this one or not? Answers won’t offend me, I feel like I did and my confidence is up…wow, I didn’t know I had this kind of run in me!

Up Next: 1/2M race next Saturday, but overall tapering for the next 3 weeks. The Denver Rock ‘N’ Roll race is on Oct 17.

4 thoughts on “Sunday Long Run – The Big Momma Run”

Question: When you do a similar 19-miler (by similar, i don’t mean pace but effort based on what you think my effort was here)… how was your fueling? The point of the question is that I’ve read in several articles that an occasional long run at a depleted state is good… and I feel like with the single Gu and small amount of fluids may be considered a semi-depleted state for me… and I still performed well in my eyes.

On longer runs like that, I start fueling actually a couple of hours ahead – ideally. Meaning a small breakfast 90 minutes before. Then during the run, a gel every 45 minutes. Fluids frequently, as I feel needed. And then a good amount afterwards …

My pre-run consists of a 6-oz soy mocha, and two slices of bread. Longer run is usually 3 slices but it depends if I have the time… I teeter between 2 hours to 30 minutes. This time, it was about 30 minutes on two slices of bread. This has been my staple for the last 2 years of running and it works well for me.

I tend to take the gels with a bit of a longer duration during training but generally about every 6 mi during a race. I don’t hydrate as much as I should (always been a problem for me) but it also depends on the temp.

Afterwards, I usually down 4-8 oz of soy chocolate milk and then slow intake of water. I’ve learned my lesson drinking too much afterwards 🙂

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